My new job at Geek Choice.

[greggh]

Sorry I don't agree. Dumb comments like "the administrator is always logged into the forum" and false testimonials "must have slipped the net" is utter bullcrap. He's struggling to come up credible answers to the questions posed as to why this stuff has been generated over the past few weeks since he joined the company.

That site is trying to gather business using false representation, it really wouldn't take much time to fix that if the company has genuine intentions.

No, the administrator always does seem to be logged into the forum. It has something to do with the copy and pasting you refer to. It is being done from that account I believe.

 

[breadtrk]

I wish you the best of luck. We have been around about the same length of time and I have NEVER seen you lose your cool, be rude, or give bad advise.

Congradulations on the new gig.

 

[manderso]

Judging by just one of greggh's posts http://www.technibble.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8992, it's hard to imagine he's attempting to scam anyone. He's put in good advise to the community, why would he try to scam us after he's got a good name here?

 

[iptech]

greggh and others here who are seemingly encouraged by this sort of false representation should take heed of the FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (16 CFR Part 255) which comes into force on Dec 1st 2009.

Be careful how you use SEO guys.

 

[greggh]

greggh and others here who are seemingly encouraged by this sort of false representation should take heed of the FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (16 CFR Part 255) which comes into force on Dec 1st 2009.

Be careful how you use SEO guys.

Indeed. One of the things I realized last night was that while I asked for customers opinions and experiences in the survey I sent out, I had NOT actually told them they might be used on the website as testimonials. Realizing that mistake I went through and picked out the 43 most positive results and emailed them today asking them for permission to use some or all of their statements.

 

[iptech]

That's great to hear. Will you also be contacting this guy to ask him to remove the testimonials that appear to be exact duplicates of those you have used from your customers? It looks like he could do with a little help with the lifting script used as he's even left mention of your company in some of them!

...and what about Core3Solutions? or Econogeeks? or even LowCostComputerHelp?

I would be taking immediate action against these and the others (there are too many to mention) who used my customer testimonials to promote their business.

 

[thecoldone06]

Congrats and good luck at your new position greggh. They are lucky to have you!

 

[BostonGeek1]

That's great to hear. Will you also be contacting this guy to ask him to remove the testimonials that appear to be exact duplicates of those you have used from your customers? It looks like he could do with a little help with the lifting script used as he's even left mention of your company in some of them!

...and what about Core3Solutions? or Econogeeks? or even LowCostComputerHelp?

I would be taking immediate action against these and the others (there are too many to mention) who used my customer testimonials to promote their business.

I think the main point here is that noone is targeting Greg directly, but Greg you absolutely CANNOT come in and leverage your reputation here and CASH IT IN, to make Geek Choice's past actions somehow ok, or to insist we give them another chance because you've come on board. What you're really doing is extremely unfair. You're basically saying, hey guys, you've known me forever, I'm going to come into this shady company and change things around, just tell me how much they suck and i'll make the changes you say, hahaha. Meanwhile, how do we know anything else has changed? All you're doing is asking us how to make the company APPEAR legitimate. That's grossly unfair and in fact we SHOULDN'T be telling you, because what could happen is the company is still screwing people over, however now its harder to detect because you've gone and made the changes we've told you to make. All these changes you're making are superficial and are not going to change ANYTHING internally inside the company. Before you came on, at least they were sloppy at their scam, but now its going to be harder to pick up on.

 

[greggh]

That's great to hear. Will you also be contacting this guy to ask him to remove the testimonials that appear to be exact duplicates of those you have used from your customers? It looks like he could do with a little help with the lifting script used as he's even left mention of your company in some of them!

...and what about Core3Solutions? or Econogeeks? or even LowCostComputerHelp?

I would be taking immediate action against these and the others (there are too many to mention) who used my customer testimonials to promote their business.

Wow, that mountaingeek one even has graphics and some other text from the old site Geek Choice used to have. Action will be taken. But I am not going to stand up on that high horse until I actually get all the other stuff fixed up with testimonials and everything else on the site this weekend.

Then I will email/call those people asking what the story is.

If you dont mind me asking, are you just using some google skills or are you using some kind of plagiarism site to find all of these?

 

[greggh]

I think the main point here is that noone is targeting Greg directly, but Greg you absolutely CANNOT come in and leverage your reputation here and CASH IT IN, to make Geek Choice's past actions somehow ok, or to insist we give them another chance because you've come on board. What you're really doing is extremely unfair. You're basically saying, hey guys, you've known me forever, I'm going to come into this shady company and change things around, just tell me how much they suck and i'll make the changes you say, hahaha. Meanwhile, how do we know anything else has changed? All you're doing is asking us how to make the company APPEAR legitimate. That's grossly unfair and in fact we SHOULDN'T be telling you, because what could happen is the company is still screwing people over, however now its harder to detect because you've gone and made the changes we've told you to make. All these changes you're making are superficial and are not going to change ANYTHING internally inside the company. Before you came on, at least they were sloppy at their scam, but now its going to be harder to pick up on.

No one is targeting me directly? Come on. iptech did a pretty good job of jabbing at me there for a few pages. I just dont get heated about that sort of thing. I am not asking you how to make the company APPEAR legitimate. Nice try at smearing me though. I have done a ton of cleanup in the time ive been there so far. And will be doing a ton more. As for the changes people in this thread have mentioned. A lot of them hadnt/havent happened because I have been working on all the other things that you have alluded to internally. Which is much more important than the things you call superficial. But by all means, keep attacking.

As for it being a scam. It is nothing even remotely like a scam. Beyond that though, you dont ever talk about where you work. I am more than happy to air everything about my work here. Unlike you. Someone who I even believe was banned here once before. Which is why your new account is only a few months old. If I had to take a guess your Ilya or maybe Stanislov, or one of the other people from Geeks Mobile USA. Which is a good reason for why you dont talk about that.

If I wasnt actually dedicated to doing good work and being on the up and up I wouldnt have the good reputation I have around here. I work hard on keeping it that way. And will show quite simply that I mean it with this new company.

 

[iptech]

If you dont mind me asking, are you just using some google skills or are you using some kind of plagiarism site to find all of these?

I use a variety of techniques depending upon the need or purpose.

I can understand why you're not in a hurry to chase up the guys who are also using the same testimonials as you, it must be awkward to ask someone to remove a testimonial that he was using in 2005 whereas your company only started using it in 2006. This also begs the wider question as to why all your testimonials, that you've only now verified, have not been updated in over three years? For a company that claims to have 60,000 satisfied customers I would try to find some more up-to-date testimonials.

BTW Marriott Hotels is spelt with two 't's'

Edit: I see most of the testimonials have now been deleted from your site. Why would you do that if they were legitimate and you had permission from the original authors?

Do you think it's appropriate for your site to carry the 'Better Business Bureau' logo whilst it still has so many discrepancies from the bad old days?

 

[greggh]

Congrats and good luck at your new position greggh. They are lucky to have you!

I wish you the best of luck. We have been around about the same length of time and I have NEVER seen you lose your cool, be rude, or give bad advise.

Congradulations on the new gig.

+1, I'm not to sure why you came under such attack for this. To me it seems like you are doing all that you can to make things right with this company. It sounds like you have your hands full but it looks like you are making pretty good progress already. Congratulations on your new position and good luck with everything!

Not sure what the problem is but greggh has been making quality posts on these forums for far longer than most have been members. We joined right around the same time and I have heard nothing from him but good, helpful advice.

Thanks for all those. I really appreciate it.

 

[JosephLeo]

Thanks for all those. I really appreciate it.

You might want to add me to that list.
Congratulations on your job, I would love to see you turn that company around- it sounds like your more of a Public Relations manager now rather than a "IT Staff Manager". Maybe you should ask the company to re-evaluate your position in the company

 

[greggh]

I use a variety of techniques depending upon the need or purpose.

I can understand why you're not in a hurry to chase up the guys who are also using the same testimonials as you, it must be awkward to ask someone to remove a testimonial that he was using in 2005 whereas your company only started using it in 2006. This also begs the wider question as to why all your testimonials, that you've only now verified, have not been updated in over three years? For a company that claims to have 60,000 satisfied customers I would try to find some more up-to-date testimonials.

BTW Marriott Hotels is spelt with two 't's'

You are right on the ball as usual. I sent out that email for new testimonials to 43 people (depending on your view late last night or early this morning.) I got two responses already today. So those are going up now, replacing everything thats there, including the little sidebar ones.

The thing I actually thought was funny was that the mountain guy used graphics from the old site:

GC: http://web.archive.org/web/20061117161138/http://www.geekchoice.com/

HIM: http://mountaingeek.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=27

It's interesting.

ps: The new testimonials should be up at this point. It's only two, but thats a good start.

 

[greggh]

Why do you see it as trolling? Surely the questions are all valid in context to the original post even if the answers are less than forthright?

I personally dont see it as trolling. You had every reason to suspect based on the things you could see. You cant actually see the hours I am putting into the company. You can only see the big problems that were here before. Then the mixup where you thought I actually worked here already surely got you looking deeper. Its all pretty understandable actually.

I dont let things like that get to me. You sound very intelligent. I figure if I remain level headed and try and answer the questions as best I can and fix the things as fast as I am capable you will see it.

 

[greggh]

You might want to add me to that list.
Congratulations on your job, I would love to see you turn that company around- it sounds like your more of a Public Relations manager now rather than a "IT Staff Manager". Maybe you should ask the company to re-evaluate your position in the company

Thanks, I apprecaite that. I am technically the Technician Manager, but for a hopefully short while here I am going to be doing a lot more. Once things are running the way they should be and everything is going in a way that makes me happy I think we will probably hire on another person to takeover a lot of those tasks so I can focus more on my actual position.

 

[JosephLeo]

Why do you see it as trolling? Surely the questions are all valid in context to the original post even if the answers are less than forthright?

Sorry, I was being witty. Didn't mean to literally call you a troll- sorta sounds stupid now that I read the post agan. Your questions are legit, but just sound slightly hostile. I apologize for that- I just felt this topic was getting a little dramatic and felt that it needed some lightening up.

 

[JosephLeo]

It was an insult, I hope you got an infraction as a result.

Well then- in that case I don't remember actually accusing you specifically of being a troll, you just assumed that on your own. I just said that I will refer to this thread as "How to manage a troll" and not only that- I meant it in a humorous fashion as well.

You seem to be a little over-sensitive to criticism even when it's false criticism. Read a joke book once in a while because everything doesn't constitute a debate. Like I said in another post I am not easily offended but I will tell you my thoughts about you. You might want to look into voodoo since you seem to hope for bad things to happen to people you dislike or don't agree with.

The forum is a cut and paste job as well. Looks to be mostly Yahoo! answers.

I hope you lose a lot of money on this venture greggh.

It was an insult, I hope you got an infraction as a result.

That actually seems pretty childish to me. By your standards I should probably say something like this...

I hope you go out of business iptech...but why would I wish that upon you? Anyway- you're going to reply with a "Grr. I don't like you" post and I will simply ignore it and not post anymore in this topic. I will not contribute to this drama any longer but I will continue to read it...If I offended you I am sorry, but I don't know how far an apology can go with you.




Greg, congratulations on all of your success. I'm sorry I hijacked your thread- I seem to do that but I really just wanted to make this thread a little more light sided. I guess I can't make everybody laugh. (Nothing wrong with being a clown once in a while)

 

[iptech]

Welcome back to the scrapyard.

It's interesting to note that of all the fawning posts made by others, few have actually bothered to offer up any form of critique in response to the OPs original post. At least the input I've made has encouraged him to make some positive changes to that site.

 

[JosephLeo]

Welcome back to the scrapyard.

It's interesting to note that of all the fawning posts made by others, few have actually bothered to offer up any form of critique in response to the OPs original post. At least the input I've made has encouraged him to make some positive changes to that site.

You know- to tell the truth, you actually have a point there. Maybe your methods are a little bit brutal, but you did actually get your point across better. There were a few parts though that made you seem hostile instead of productive though, like the first post- but really and truly you did in fact do good in the end. I applaud you for that but try and be less presumptuous and more profound.

Also, I still technically work at the scrap yard to this day- I'm just not on a payroll. It's my families business and by default if I'm not working I have to help- afterall 1/3 of the company is mine when my father retires- including 1/3 of the profit (no matter what my employment status there or not) since that's how we have the agreement. Another note- by not working there I will probably gain a lot of weight since I don't excersize...can you imagine moving 5 tons of stuff a day by hand every day for the rest of your back's life? I'm only in my early 20's and as a precaution visit a chiropractor twice a year.

Anyway, best of luck to you and I hope we set aside our differences. I really like it here on the forum when we act like professionals and not bicker amongst ourselves. It's impossible to avoid a small argument once in a while, but it's very possible to avoid a flame war (like just now). So, what do you say? We don't have to be friendly, but we can still be neutral towards each other.